2007 Grand Prix of Houston

The 2007 Grand Prix of Houston was the third round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season, held on April 22 at JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park.

2007 Grand Prix of Houston

Race details
Race 3 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
Date	April 22, 2007
Official name	Grand Prix of Houston
Location	JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park Houston, Texas, United States
Course	Temporary street circuit 1.683[1] mi / 2.709 km
Distance	93 laps 156.519 mi / 251.893 km
Weather	Cloudy with temperatures reaching up to 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds approaching 14 miles per hour (23 km/h)[2]
Pole position
Driver	Will Power (Team Australia)
Time	57.405
Fastest lap
Driver	Sébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
Time	58.018 (on lap 93 of 93)
Podium
First	Sébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
Second	Graham Rahal (N/H/L Racing)
Third	Robert Doornbos (Minardi Team USA)

Qualifying results

Pos	Nat	Name	Team	Qual 1	Qual 2	Best
1		Will Power	Team Australia	58.890	57.405	57.405
2		Sébastien Bourdais	N/H/L Racing	58.376	57.653	57.653
3		Justin Wilson	RSPORTS	59.216	57.533	57.533
4		Neel Jani	PKV Racing	59.354	57.753	57.753
5		Oriol Servia	Forsythe Racing	59.338	57.790	57.790
6		Graham Rahal	N/H/L Racing	58.998	57.896	57.896
7		Simon Pagenaud	Team Australia	59.446	57.929	57.929
8		Tristan Gommendy	PKV Racing	1:00.348	58.026	58.026
9		Mario Dominguez	Forsythe Racing	59.788	58.079	58.079
10		Bruno Junqueira	Dale Coyne Racing	59.575	58.169	58.169
11		Alex Tagliani	RSPORTS	59.269	58.261	58.261
12		Dan Clarke	Minardi Team USA	1:00.365	58.355	58.355
13		Robert Doornbos	Minardi Team USA	59.940	58.569	58.569
14		Matt Halliday	Conquest Racing	59.747	58.577	58.577
15		Ryan Dalziel	Pacific Coast Motorsports	59.746	58.835	58.835
16		Roberto Moreno	Pacific Coast Motorsports	-	59.231	59.231
17		Katherine Legge	Dale Coyne Racing	1:00.603	59.257	59.257

Sébastien Bourdais originally took pole but was penalised for blocking Will Power. Roberto Moreno substituted for Alex Figge beginning on Saturday after Figge was unable to race the bumpy parking lot circuit with lingering back pain resulting from a crash at Long Beach the previous week.

Grid

Row	Inside		Outside
1	5	Will Power	1	Sébastien Bourdais
2	9	Justin Wilson	21	Neel Jani
3	3	Oriol Servia	2	Graham Rahal
4	15	Simon Pagenaud	22	Tristan Gommendy
5	7	Mario Dominguez	19	Bruno Junqueira
6	8	Alex Tagliani	4	Dan Clarke
7	14	Robert Doornbos	42	Matt Halliday
8	28	Ryan Dalziel	29	Roberto Moreno
9	11	Katherine Legge

Cars stream into turn 1 on lap 1

Race

The race was won by Sébastien Bourdais, which moved him into the lead of the championship.

Pole sitter Will Power was passed by Sébastien Bourdais and Justin Wilson at the drop of the green flag. Bourdais short cut a chicane and was forced to drop back into 2nd behind Wilson. On lap 14 Bourdais regained the lead and built a long lead over Wilson. The first round of pit stops were done under a yellow caused by debris. Oriol Servia, substituting again for the injured Paul Tracy, left the pits in 2nd, while Bourdais' teammate Graham Rahal got out in 3rd. The top three remained static until lap 66 when Oriol Servia's green flag pit stop was balked by his teammate Mario Dominguez, dropping him all the way to 7th. When Bourdais pitted on lap 68, Tristan Gommendy took the lead by staying out, gambling on a long-shot fuel strategy win. When Gommendy's race ended at the entrance of pit lane with minutes remaining in the 1 hour, 45 minute timed race (all Champ Car races in the season were held as timed races that ran 1 hour, 45 minutes), Bourdais retook the lead and led the remainder of the race in front of teammate Rahal, who did not provide an undue amount of pressure. Robert Doornbos solidified his lead in the rookie standings with a 3rd-place finish, while Oriol Servia fought back from the pit stop mishap to a solid 4th-place finish.

Results

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Sébastien Bourdais	N/H/L Racing	93	1:45:32.136	2	33
2	2	Graham Rahal	N/H/L Racing	93	+4.8 secs	6	27
3	14	Robert Doornbos	Minardi Team USA	93	+7.1 secs	13	26
4	3	Oriol Servia	Forsythe Racing	93	+8.7 secs	5	23
5	15	Simon Pagenaud	Team Australia	93	+9.5 secs	7	21
6	7	Mario Dominguez	Forsythe Racing	93	+19.1 secs	9	19
7	19	Bruno Junqueira	Dale Coyne Racing	93	+19.1 secs	10	17
8	28	Ryan Dalziel	Pacific Coast Motorsports	93	+20.3 secs	15	15
9	8	Alex Tagliani	RSPORTS	93	+25.1 secs	11	13
10	9	Justin Wilson	RSPORTS	93	+28.5 secs	3	11
11	5	Will Power	Team Australia	92	+ 1 Lap	1	11
12	29	Roberto Moreno	Pacific Coast Motorsports	90	+ 3 Laps	16	9
13	22	Tristan Gommendy	PKV Racing	86	Mechanical	8	8
14	42	Matt Halliday	Conquest Racing	77	+ 16 Laps	14	7
15	21	Neel Jani	PKV Racing	67	Contact	4	6
16	11	Katherine Legge	Dale Coyne Racing	67	Contact	17	5
17	4	Dan Clarke	Minardi Team USA	67	Contact	12	4

Caution flags

Laps	Cause
1	Yellow flag start
28-32	Debris
47-51	Moreno spin/stall
69-74	Jani/Legge/Clarke crash & Power/Dominguez crash

Notes

Laps Leader 1 Will Power 2-13 Justin Wilson 14-29 Sébastien Bourdais 30 Tristan Gommendy 31-68 Sébastien Bourdais 69-86 Tristan Gommendy 86-93 Sébastien Bourdais

Driver Laps led Sébastien Bourdais 62 Tristan Gommendy 18 Justin Wilson 12 Will Power 1

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
2	1	Sébastien Bourdais	73
1	2	Will Power	70
2	3	Robert Doornbos	61
2	4	Alex Tagliani	57
1	5	Bruno Junqueira	53

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Attendance

Race weekend attendance was 168,259 for the Houston edition of the Champ Car World Series in 2007. This represented a 31% increase in attendance over the previous year.^[3]